Bill's
sourdough rye bread, hot from the oven, with a glass of Mario's Dolcetto
d'Alba
(photo by Kim Millon)

Topsham,
Devon January 16, 2006The annual transformation of grapes into
wine is one that I consider little short of miraculous. But grapes into
bread? Those who passed by the Vino
Wine Cellar last Saturday may have had the chance to sample a rare
treat: Bill Barnes' homebaked sourdough loaf, kindly brought to us by
Bill and Yolanda, straight out of the oven. It was sensational, still
warm in the middle and incredible with just a dribble of Monte in Vito
or Fattoria del Colle extra-virgin olive oil. And it was all the better
for the fact that the sourdough starter had been made from grapes harvested
from the Pebblebed
vineyard in Ebford!

Bill
explains what he did:

"For
the sourdough starter, I used a bunch of Geoff's grapes (Seyval I think!).
I tried to follow the instructions an Italian friend from Turin gave
me late one night in a restaurant in Cork (it turned out we both loved
making bread - and he used a sourdough starter, something I had never
tried). As he explained to me, the surface of unsprayed grapes have
yeast organisms on them, and it is this that can be used for the starter.
I squashed the grapes by hand over a bowl and then added the squashed
grapes to the liquid, covered the lot with a tea-towel and left it for
2 - 3 days at room temperature. The next step was to strain off
the liquid through a sieve, discarding the bits, skins etc. and retaining
the liquid. I then mixed in enough flour (plain organic flour from Otterton
Mill) to make a runny paste and again left the whole lot with a lid
over it for a couple of days (a big empty jam jar will do - but make
sure the lid is only on very loosely - as the yeast multiplies gas (carbon
dioxide) is given off. After that I poured away half of the mixture
each day and replaced the lost volume with a mixture of water and more
flour. Every day, before pouring half of the mixture away I would
check what it looked like, and the smell. The smell is a key indicator
- it should smell slightly sour, it should also look as though it has
been developing bubbles (it won't look anything like the wonderful Vino
champagnes though). If it has worked it should have these characteristics
after about 5 days. Nothing is precise here - that's one of the
things I love about it! If it doesn't work just try again. No
grapes? No problem - you could try organic raisins but frankly, I have
found just leaving a bowl of flour mixed with water, covered by a tea-towel,
will often work - the mixture picks up yeasts floating in the air in
your kitchen!

"As
for the bread, I blended together 100g of walnuts with a spoon of honey,
a spoon of butter and a spoon of flour and enough water to make a paste.
I Then mixed in 150g of sourdough starter (that leaves enough
to add some flour and water and build up the starter again), 300g plain
flour, 100g wholemeal flour and 100g of rye flour, and added a teaspoon
of salt and finally a really big handful of walnut halves. I kneaded
this lot for maybe 1 minute, put it back in a bowl and left it over
night to rise. The next morning I kneaded it again, probably only
30 seconds this time (it really doesn't need more) and put it on a metal
sheet, placing it on the back of my ancient gas oven for an hour to
rise a little. I then slashed the surface with a sharp knife and
baked to loaf for 1 hour at gas mark 7. Next step - off to see
if Geoff and Marc like it....."

Thanks
again, Bill. We most certainly did like it! It was absolutely awesome,
possibly the best homemade bread I've ever had. Bravissimo. (When are
you going to open a Topsham bakery?!)